So after watching their Thomas Tuesday video, it's interesting to note that they'll reuse Gordon's wheels to use on Flying Scotsman, just like how Stanley reuses Thomas's wheels. How fitting given that they're brothers, but at the same time, Gordon's chunky looking side rods look a little thick.... if it saves money to make it not too expensive, let's see how it turns out....!

You know what? Given the amount of backlog of stuff they need to catch up on, as well as the unexpected challenges of the outside climate these days, I'm glad we're getting an alternative to the cancelation of the 80th Anniversary set in the form of a character that's the Flying Scotsman...!

Quote from: TrainFan97 on July 22, 2025, 05:35:39 PMWhether or not his second tender will be optional has yet to be determined. It should just have a standard hook-and-loop coupler so that he can also be run without it.

I think they're more likely going to recycle Spencer's chassis than Gordon's, as the more cost-effective way to get him made quicker. Hopefully by mid-2026, we should see the first unpainted sample of Flying Scotsman.

Despite the inevitably ugly price Flying Scotsman is going to have, he's still going to be a good seller, and should convince Bachmann to make Hiro as the next new tender engine for HO Scale following him. We might get other smaller engines like Whiff and Norman.

Also, I just noticed this thread's title has a typo.

I legit didn't notice the title of this thread having the typo until you mentioned it...! The excitement must've been that hyped that we didn't even notice that.

There's another question that's been on my mind now that the Flying Scotsman is gonna be made for next year: will he have a box packaging like the 009/HOn30 Scale Skarloey Railway characters? For a model like him, and well a unique one with TWO TENDERS, there's no way they'll want to store this model in the blister packaging they're used to using up until this point given how pricey I can imagine him becoming......

I'd also imagine they'd have to measure at least Gordon's overall boiler shape to match since they're similar in shape and size, but with different parts like the dome and running board for example, that's gonna be something I'm curious to see how they'll do for this...

Lastly, excluding the City of Truro, isn't this a 3rd Season Character alongside Oliver, Toad, Mavis, and the upcoming Bulgy to be released altogether in this range?? That's crazy to think about!

Comparing the render shown in the announcements, and then seeing the OG CGI version in this clip, wouldn't it make sense for them to use the render used CGI era? I mean it would make sense that seeing that as Gordon's brother, in terms of his face and boiler should be at least similar in size since they've been going for the CGI renders going from Diesel/Arry and Bert onwards.

I wouldn't be surprised if they used Spencer's wheels for him given that his wheels do look a bit bigger than Gordon's (looking at their Bachmann promo photos, and comparing them to the Flying Scotsman's CGI model, it would make sense if they went to use Spencer's seeing that probably to avoid using Gordon's chunky side rods he's got)...

This more than makes up for the lack of the 80th Anniversary set that got canceled due to the unexpected setbacks from earlier this year. I'm glad this is the surprise that we're genuinely excited for!

Ok (late in posting since I was busy outside the internet), that more than makes up for the lack of other scales, which I think this might be the reason why they were like "we'll give them a BIG surprise so great that this will make up for the lack of other announcements from other scales". I'm REALLY surprised that they went through with this because as a Tender Engine, he'd be a bit more pricy as well as the fact that I thought that Hiro would've been considered if Rebecca sold well, but interesting that this was a plot twist nobody expected, though the logistics (going by whether or not the copyright for the use of this engine was gonna be an issue from what I recall) for me were more the reason of whether or not this character would be considered. Overall, you're not gonna hear any complaints from me! "Flying Scotsman COMING THROUGH!"

It's probably a good thing that it's only the HO scale line that's being announced given that there's a backlog of other characters/rolling stock of the HO, N, and even Large Scale that's yet to be released (as well as the tariff situation that's making everything price-wise uncertain at the moment)W

Now that I think about it, the easy add-on for James would the the Lamp, considering that both Oliver and Ryan both have these lamps that it would be easy to just now not use those old weird shaped lamps Thomas, Percy, and James have been using for some weird reason....

For the Narrow Gauge Engines, I'd predict if Luke was the next one in line since if his real-life counterpart is still in service and not in for an overhaul, he'd be doable to make, albeit with some slight modifications to parts like his cab that all they'd need to do was to make a separate "Luke" cab and "Peter Pan" cab for example or his buffer beam without the buffers if they'd consider that...

Quote from: Awesometrain77 on May 31, 2025, 11:19:53 AM

Quote from: DustyMarie53! on May 30, 2025, 08:04:31 PMA potential future Douglas is interesting, but it is worth noting, as they've talked before on stream they go get measurements from the TR themselves. Douglas is currently in repairs I believe in pieces, and unknown when will be back in service. So that might be off the table for a while if they hadn't had foresight. Which could potentially be another reason Duncan was cancelled indefinitely. I believe Douglas's repairs started around early August so timeline wise it could lineup. It's not the main reason as already confirmed but wonder if it played a factor at all

I think the reason why was because his CGI model was so bad . But also something to mention is that Rusty has never really looked like midlander in the show . While Bachmann Rusty is based on his cgi design it is way smaller then he is in the show . However Rusty still does not look like he could be reused.

Regardless personally I like how they made him smaller as I feel it's more right  . The same reasons why I like how Bachmann has shown to prioritize Awdry created characters or characters who were brought back into cgi like Stanley or Rosie .
Which overall makes this range feel correct and I want to thank Bachmann for it .

Yup, considering from what I saw from the pics of Rusty's real-life basis, the Midlander, he's basically a mishmash of past and present features like the Flying Scotsman: based on his previous incarnation w/ some modern features like air-vents on his body. Yeah, that'll be kind of difficult if they wanted to go for at last his real-life basis-OR alternatively just reuse parts of him to make different iterations of both past and present versions if that's possible, like for Luke, but as a diesel engine, I'd figured he'd be slightly cheaper to make since no side rods are required.

Quote from: Jake86 on May 12, 2025, 12:28:03 AMI was going to ask whether you would be interested in redesigning Bachmann red composite and brake express coaches which had red doors white windows and black rooftops in series 2 design HO scale they appeared from episode Cows 1986 to Paint Pots and Queens 1994 series 4 they are also on Ollie's Railway Modelling Projects Facebook page if you like the idea please let me know thanks   

Ok, we get you have requests that you'd want to see being made (and then of course so do we), and I'll have be the one to point this out without sounding harsh, BUT PLEASE understand from their business perspective that they can't make every single character that you yourself want to see be made. There's a lot of obstacles/hoops Bachmann have to jump through to get these characters/rolling stock made. You don't need to make a bajillion of public requests for characters that Bachmann hasn't gotten to yet. They know what we want, but it'll be up to them on whether or not that it'll be a worthwhile investment (heck, we've been wanting Stepney for years, but they're prioritizing the CGI based era since that's the one that's the most focused at the moment and thankfully not out of what we thought to be strictly contracted(forgot the word there?) by Mattel). Be patient if you can! Also not sure if you've realized, Thomas and Friends isn't the only brand they're working on/known for since they also got other HO brand models in their lineup to work with as well just in that scale alone! Like someone said earlier, take it a step at a time like a Top 5 for example, just so you won't be too disappointment if they don't announce at least one of your long-awaited wish/suggestions.

Yeah, I figured from his size alone it could be an issue, especially since the likes of Rebecca is a slow burner even though she's a pretty decent representation of her TV series model...!

Heck, actually, now that I think about for Stephen (and/or Glynn if they decide to do so), I doubt they'd be able to add the eye mechs into their tiny bodies since I wouldn't be surprised if that would end up driving up the price w/ all the complex parts to what makes Bachmann's T&F products unique for the HO & Large scale lines...

So it could be possible, but how to tackle the challenges of the price tag, sizing of the model w/ tenders, etc-similar to Harvey and Diesel 10's situations-would be deciding factor, but then there's also Hiro that people have been wanting, but idk if that'll be possible right now like as was said since Rebecca's the make-it-or-break-it situation...

To add to this: would the Flying Scotsman be possible to make, factoring in the costs plus extra tender? This character since he's a combination of the 2 tender version and the smoke deflector version (I'm not an expert on the years like a train enthusiast, so pardon me using the visual bits when describing him), he'd have to have a box made for him, if he were to be considered to be added to the lineup. It'd be really interesting if they were able to make this character a model like Hornby did, but with the CGI modern elements added onto him.

Also I don't know if I heard this correctly (and please, correct me if I'm wrong considering this may end up being speculative), but is there a copyright thing for using the Flying Scotsman specifically?? Is that the reason why he's not being considered to be made at all?

Boy, Sir Handel looks like if Nitrogen Studios went to the Talyllyn Railway again and redid their design of Sir Haydn just like when they went there to do measurements for the Blue Mountain Mystery special...! It makes me wonder if this is a testing ground for Bachmann to add the detailing not present from the 2012 CGI models of the narrow gauge characters (and to an extent, hopefully this'll mean if Duncan gets green-lit if a solution to find the balance between TV series model and Douglas' model can be made, just like Large Scale Diesel being uncanceled too)... If that's the case, I definitely appreciate the fact they went above and beyond to make Sir Handel as extra special as he is now...!

Quote from: Cheeky_ULP on November 01, 2024, 09:35:16 PMIf Bachmann really wants to make the most of engine tooling repaints, I feel like they should at least try to pitch Norman and Dennis to Mattel before continuing to scrape the barrel for Big World Big Adventures era characters.



Dennis is a model era character, true, but he does have the distinction of being noted several times as a sibling of Norman in Norman's bios and merchandise. To me personally, it makes him "somewhat" of an honorary CGI character, compared to BoCo or Stepney, whom of which were never mentioned in the CGI era in any regard. I really get the impression that had BWBA not jumped in, we could've seen Dennis surface in the CGI era with Norman.



Topping that off, Norman has had a few speaking roles throughout the CGI era, and is often marketed with Paxton and Sidney as a trio (probably because they're each red, green, and blue), so he has a notable presence in CGI. Bachmann has made Paxton, and is now making Sidney, so why not round off the trio? To me, Norman and Dennis is a win-win for Bachmann and its consumers; niche and quirky, but bold and unique additions to the range.

I can see Norman being made, especially if they decide to reuse Rebecca's wheels AND seeing that they're cousins to each other being built from the same designer Bulleid..., more or less.

Hopefully, for my picks of 00 scale: I hope at least Hiro, Stephen (probably w/o moving eyes), or Whiff can be considered for the range, but certainly Whiff would be more likely since he's a tank engine, thus cheaper to make.

For 009 scale: as long as either Luke, Victor, or Millie can be considered, I'm content since they have potential to be amazing models since of their pairings with other potential characters introduced from their respective specials that also can be considered too (Stephen plus the blue open carriage w/ Millie for example).

I'm glad this is the one time his CGI face is used here because while I loved his model series face, his Season 12 face was not so good looking... Like the others back in that season, they were hit-or-misses.....

Quote from: really called Thomas on October 27, 2024, 12:04:03 AM

Quote from: Awesometrain77 on October 26, 2024, 08:36:16 PMIf they do do a classic breakdown train it will probably be a faceless Judy/Jerome expect no modifications . With that being said, I do think it's a good idea.

The faces on the all Troublesome Trucks and Spiteful are removeable (certainly for HO, not sure about the other scales); kill two birds with one stone and design the Breakdown Train with detachable Judy/Jerome faces.

EDIT: this has got be thinking, as the Engines faces are also removeable, how about a "Faces Pack" for each character? Have 5 different faces or so - neutral, smiley, sleepy, cross, shocked... that can be easily interchanged with the original.

Considering Ryan's face popped off too easily when I got mine, that's actually a pretty good idea! Plus if they want to, especially for the classic characters, they could make either more classic faces and/or CGI faces especially for those characters that were released from 2002 to 2013 (except Diesel who got a CGI style face). That could be something to consider down the line if they wanted to...